Page 46 of Commanding Chaos

Ember shook her head. “If the Boston witches really know what we’re after, and they’re the ones who were here, they wouldn’t care if a few innocents got hurt.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” I said. “Could’ve been someone with a conscience.”

“Indeed,” Chaos said. “I’m going to get my brother now.”

“Okay. Just be careful. I still don’t like this setup.” I motioned for him to continue, and I walked behind Ember until the corridor spilled out into a small chamber.

Chaos stopped outside the entrance, stilling as he sensed the energy in the space. I did the same, searching for signs of a demon other than mine, but I came up short. Before he could step inside, I cast my magic-revealing spell one more time, sending golden sparkles into the room. They gathered in two places: on an ornate wooden box in the center of the space, just big enough to hold a skull, and around a niche carved into the dirt wall at the other end of the room.

I clutched the freezing spell in my right hand, my left holding the cork, ready to pop this baby open at any moment. Chaos stepped inside, and Ember and I fanned out around him. Her daggers in each hand, she rocked on her feet, her muscles tense and ready for a fight.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sang.

Something in the niche grunted, and I opened my senses again, trying to ascertain what we were up against. It wasn’t demonic, whatever it was, so Chaos wouldn’t be able to control it like he did the imps.

One witchissippi. Two witchissippi. No one made a move.

I shifted on my feet, and Chaos held out his arm, warning me to stay back. Now did he believe me this was a trap?

“Oh, for goddess’s sake.” Ember hurled a dagger into the niche.

First a yelp. Then a guttural roar. Boy, she’d done it now. Out from the alcove stepped a five-foot-tall, green-skinned monster with a pig-like nose and tusks protruding from both its upper and lower jaws. Blood trailed down its arm where the dagger had gotten it, and it yanked the knife from its flesh before tossing it to the ground.

“Sweet Shrek, is that an ogre?” I uncapped the potion, but it was too far away for the spell to reach.

“A troll.” Chaos cracked his neck. “They’re usually docile creatures, but your sister has agitated this one.”

“As she likes to do.” I inched toward it, but Chaos put out his arm again, warning me back.

“At least the action has started.” Ember took another dagger from her jacket.

“This is odd,” Chaos said. “Trolls aren’t used as guards.”

Ember pointed a blade at the beastie. “This one is.”

The troll roared and barreled toward her. I hit it with the freezing spell, and its eyes widened before it face-planted in the dirt. This was too easy. Way too easy.

“If I had my sword, I’d lop off its head. Will a knife to the heart do?” She rolled it onto its back and looked at Chaos for confirmation.

“Indeed,” he said, his voice growing wary.

I looked away while Ember did her thing. Thankfully, she was quick, and the monster only let out a single yelp before it expired. But the foreboding feeling in my gut had grown almost unbearable.

“Chaos.” I spun to face him, but I was too late.

He ripped the lock off the box and threw open the lid. Reaching inside, he cradled something, drawing it out and holding it even with his face. A skull.

Looked like I was wrong after all.

A high-pitched ringing pierced my ears. Ember clutched her head and dropped to her knees a half-second before the skull exploded in Chaos’s hands. White light flashed, blinding me. A pulse of dark energy slammed into my chest, knocking me back. I hit the wall, my breath whooshing from my lungs, before I pitched forward and hit my head on something hard. Splitting pain exploded in my skull. The world slipped away.

16

CHAOS

“Ash!” Ember shot to her feet and rushed to her sister’s side. “What the hell was that?” She held Ash’s face in her hands, wiping away the blood that marred her forehead.

I stared at my empty hands where Mayhem’s skull once sat, attempting to comprehend what happened. It would not have exploded, disappearing without a trace. It could not.

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